Earl opens door to Di's bedroom; ALTHORP SECRETS OF PRINCESS'S ROOM TO BE REVEALED TO THE PUBLIC FOR THE FIRST TIME.

Byline: MARTIN SMITH

THE bedroom where Diana, Princess of Wales, used to sleep at her family home is being opened up to the public for the first time.

Earl Spencer is planning to make Diana's old bed a centrepiece attraction for visitors to Althorp estate, where the princess is buried.

Members of the public will be able to look around the Princess's private room which includes her elaborate four-poster bed.

Furniture inside the room includes the double bed, draped in heavy green and red fabric, and the Georgian mahogany dressing table used by Diana.

According to national reports, the only change Earl Spencer has made in preparation for this summer's opening was to re-hang some of the room's paintings.

The Prince and Princess of Wales used the bedroom when they visited the house.

It has been closed to the public since she died in 1997.

The Northamptonshire estate, which attracts thousands of visitors from Coventry and Warwickshire every summer, will open from July 1 until September 30.

Rita Tank, clerk of the parish council at The Bringtons (Little, Great and Nobottle), said Althorp officials confirmed extra rooms would be opened to the public this summer during a recent parish meeting.

Mrs Tank said: "We did have a meeting with the Althorp estate and they told us they were going to open up other rooms in the house and asked if anyone had any objection or comment to make. No one did.

"It was such a long, long time ago. I do not think anyone is going to take a shred of notice. It has been years and years and years since they stayed there."

The stately home and grounds were opened in 1998 and have attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the world.

No-one at the estate was available for comment.

CAPTION(S):

FAMILY HISTORY: Earl Spencer outside Althorp and (inset) Princess Diana